


Tuesday

by rippedjeansandloudmusic



Category: Heroes of Olympus - Fandom, Trials of Apollo - Fandom, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: Body Dysmorphia, But mostly angst, Depression, HAZEL and WILL BROTP, IT - Freeform, Kinda fluff, M/M, Shit, also really angsty, also very, hazel and will brotp is my new hsit, hella angst, i also accidentally deleted this, i honestly love how i wrote hazel in this, is very triggering though, it's agonizing, really gay, so be ready, so you may have already read this, sorry - Freeform, suicidal shit, there's no current acts of self harm, though there are past mentions, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:34:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rippedjeansandloudmusic/pseuds/rippedjeansandloudmusic
Summary: Some people say that the world ended on a Tuesday. Will liked to argue that it began on a Tuesday.__________(I also already posted this online but I accidentally deleted this IM SORRY)This has mentions of past self-harm, body dysmorphia, and some other very heavy themes. I would recommend that if you are triggered by any of these themes, that you second guess reading this.





	Tuesday

**Author's Note:**

> This story, I'm sorry to say, will have kinda-slow updates. Please consider your own well being before reading this. But, if you're okay, PREPARE FOR ANGST  
> (im sorry this is my second time putting this up i accidentally deleted the first one you can yell at me now)

Some people say that the world ended on a Tuesday. Will liked to argue that it began on a Tuesday.

His world revolved around three very simple things: schoolwork, sports, and making his family proud.

Only one of those things he believed that he was doing correctly.

School work was easy. Will was a naturally smart person, getting into A.P. classes like they were child's play. Sports was something he could tolerate. He didn't like playing baseball, but how else was he supposed to be better than his brother and sisters? He couldn't unless he planned to excel in something they didn't. Otherwise, he was just the background character for his siblings’' film.

He wanted to think that he made his mother proud. That they didn't look at him and imagine the ways that he could be better; stronger; faster.

Though, let's be honest here, that was probably all they thought about. It was the only thing his siblings shoved down his throat:  _ Will, throw the pitch faster. Will, get a 100% next time. Will, try to be better next time, alright? _

The constancy that was his life wasn't built on pretty words and  _ 'I love you _ 's.They were built on harsh words and tearing down something that was meant to be preserved; protected.

Will rode the bus to and fro school every day. He sat in seat 11, the same seat he sat in every day, and listened to the same playlist with the same songs and the same lyrics. He sat alone, like normal, and could catch snippets of students’ conversations around them. Some were about getting the girl; some were about getting a good grade. All things that go on in Will’s home life every day. It was something that felt like the songs in his ear: the same.

When the bus stopped and kids filed off, Will was somewhere in the middle of the chaos. Athletes were shoving each other left and right, as though wanting to push one another to the top of a ladder that Will couldn’t see. He was pulled along by these people, shoved in the middle of their constant touching and shoving and roughness. Will just wanted to be left alone, to be frank.

He walked into the doors of his same school and walked the same halls leading to the same locker with the same number: 425. He’d never formally met the person he shared the locker with. Will had his books on top, his on bottom, and they never talked. Why bother? He had better things to worry about.

Ms. Tanaka’s class was on the second floor. The same floor he was going to, with the same teacher and the same seat in the same corner of the room. He dumped his books on the desk and sat up straight in his seat, high-fiving another baseball player that walked by him.

A friend of his - could he really consider him a friend? - came by and sat in the seat opposite of him, even though he wasn’t supposed to, and smiled brightly at Will.

“Solace,” Austin said, holding out his fist. Will bumped his against it, thinking about how odd it was that their skin tones were so different, even though they were so much alike. “How’s the family?”

Austin was a taller guy, maybe five ten, though he was still a few inches shorter than Will. He had a dark skin tone with light brown eyes and a constant smirk on his face. He was a junior alongside Will, though Austin was treated more like a king. He was the school’s very own mascot; someone everyone looked to sport-wise. Will wasn’t sure if he wanted that, or wanted to beat that.

“Great, Austin,” Will said, his signature poster-ready smile on his face. “Thanks for asking,”

Austin smiled back at Will, exchanging a few more words before leaving, going back to his seat right by the teacher. Will took out his books, starting with a problem Ms. Tanaka put on the board.

He was finished before half the class was in the room.

The first half of the day filed by with him moving class to class, sitting in a chair, doing the work and not uttering a word. It was something he found constant, though he wasn’t sure if he liked constant all that much. He wanted something to come and sweep him off his feet: a pretty girl, maybe. Or possibly a big, hairy man that could come and sweep him off to a school meant for only the special; a place where he could feel accepted. Where he could save the day and he would get applauded - not just a pat on the back and someone telling him he could’ve done it better.

He wished he got encouragements from people other than the people that are meant to do just that: encourage him.

Will thought lunch would be like any other lunch day. Maybe someone would start a fight in the middle of the linoleum floor, though that wasn’t necessarily special. He wished that maybe an earthquake could sweep by, rocking the entire floor. Maybe a teacher coming in and announcing that they had a half day so Will could go home and read. Maybe someone new would come by and sit at the table he shared with athletes, just to spice up what happened.

What he got, though, was much more anticlimactic. 

He was flipping through pages in a new book he got. He was enveloped in the story of a girl who was meant to save them all. Meant to make sure that the evil god-like figure that ruled over them would never rise to power again.

He looked up from his book, head resting in his right hand and his right elbow planted on the lunch table when he made eye-contact with someone from across the room.

He had dark brown eyes, ones that Will found tantalizing and black hair that covered his head like a mop and a beanie meant to minimize the visible damage. He had a leather jacket on with a band on his shirt - Ramones - with a bar in the top of his ear and a sneer on his face. His features seemed to soften ever-so-slightly when he looked at Will. Will quickly returned to his page, a wave of heat spreading over his face, and took a few deep breaths.

_ Who is that?  _ He thought to himself, though didn’t look up again. He was with his friends now. He didn’t need anyone else.

(He didn’t know he needed anyone else.)

When lunch ended he dumped his tray in the garbage.

He headed to his locker, got his things, and continued to his next class.

When classes ended he stayed behind in the room for a moment, looking outside. The sun was so bright, and he would be outside, standing in it for the next hour and a half.

Will had to fake a smile as he joined his teammates outside.

“What’re we doing today, coach?” Someone asked, and Will recognized them as Jason Grace - captain of the baseball team. He was tall with broad shoulders, standing with the bat propped against his shoulder, besides Percy Jackson, his right-hand-man. Will turned to look into the bleachers which were normally vacant, and saw a group of people sitting towards the top of the silver metal stands. They were who Will considered the ‘popular click’ - Annabeth Chase, Percy’s girlfriend, Piper Mclean, Jason’s girlfriend, and a group of their closest friends. Why they were all here today Will wasn’t sure, though they were.

“Solace?” Will’s head snapped back to the speaker. It was Jason. He was standing with a brow raised on his face. Will held his hand up to block the sun from shining in his eyes and cleared his throat, coughing out an apology and a question rolled into one sentence.

“Are you good with playing outfield at the game Friday? Beckendorf’s out and we need a replacement,”

Will gave a response with no hesitation: “Of course, yeah,”

“Are you sure?” Jackson asked, tossing a ball into the air once or twice. “You’ve never played outfield before. Pitchers don’t generally do that, but we need Lakes to start practicing again.”

“I’ll manage,” Will said, though it was more of a snap, and Percy held his hand us defensively. Will frowned, not meaning for it to come out that way, though didn’t get a chance to apologize before coach made him head out, leaving him to substitute his baseball bat for a mitt.

Coach shouted some words of encouragement, words that Will let flow through one ear and out the other. He wasn’t sure what he said and didn’t care. He had to learn this quick, or he’d be last week’s news.

Will had to run halfway across the field to get some of the baseballs that flew, half of which could’ve been done by another player. It was a mock game - he shouldn’t have been taking it seriously. It was a game before a game. Players were messing around half time, not even bothering to get the ball. Coach didn’t care, either; he was probably letting them do whatever they wanted this practice. They’d been climbing the rosters all season, there was no reason they’d have to beat themselves up over something this simple. The next school was one of the worst in the district, they’d win without a week's worth of practice.

Will couldn’t take that, though: he’d play right or he wouldn’t play at all.

He hated the sun. He wanted to run back to his house and fall into his bed, pull the covers up over his head and disappear for a while. He couldn’t, though, mostly because his mother set up a company dinner with other business men that Will was required to show up to if he wanted to take up the family company one day. And he did.

(He didn’t.) (Inheriting that company was the last thing he wanted to do.) (He wouldn’t let himself think that, though, because he couldn’t let his family down.)

He dove left and dove right. He made sure that he didn’t let the sun’s heat or the sun’s unmerciful rays beating down on his back with metal bats. He treated this game like it was his last.

And, at the end of practice, when everyone made way to the locker room to take showers, Will stayed behind. He laid on the seats in the dugout, hoping that maybe they would help him calm down or cool off, and closed his eyes.

“Hey, Will,”

He sat up, quickly putting his feet to the ground as though getting caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to and looked to the ground.

“Will,” Jason said again, coming up and sitting beside him. Will tried not to flinch as he laid a hand on Will’s shoulders, “Is everything alright?”

Will looked up at Jason. He had a small scar on his upper lip and put on his glasses. His face shone with sweat and Will found himself staring. He quickly looked away.  “I’m fine,” Will said, rolling his shoulders back to Jason would drop his hand. Jason did so though didn’t move, just scrunched his brows up slightly.

“Are you sure?” Jason asked, and Will felt a small ball of fire being born in his stomach.

“I’m fine, Grace,” he grunted out, sounding much more antagonizing than he meant. He sighed shakily before turning, looking up at Jason. Jason was an inch taller than him. “Sorry. I’m fine, Jason,” he said again, hoping it sounded more friendly than before. “I’m fine.” He repeated, trying to convince Jason so he could leave. (Truth is, Will wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince Jason or convince himself. )

Jason looked skeptical though eventually sighed, hitting Will’s shoulder firmly before leaving him to his own thoughts. (Will secretly hoped that someone else would come through, mostly so he wouldn’t be alone.) (He wasn’t sure what to feel when, maybe a half hour later, he left the dugout to find that almost everyone had evacuated.)

When Will went into the locker room he made a beeline for the showers, first making sure that everyone had at least left the shower area before going in himself.

He made the water as cold as he could, letting it beat down on him like the sunshine outside. His hair wasn’t very long, so he couldn’t see the blonde strands as he looked down towards his feet.

His shins had faint lines of pale brown, mirroring one another on his opposite side. There were butterfly bandages that were slowly falling off, and he was sure he'd have to replace them soon. His skin was a light brown itself, mostly due to genetics, so the lines didn’t stand out too much. If you saw him wearing shorts - which he never wore, but if he did - you probably would just think that they were stretch marks or cuts from skidding across the dirt on the field too hard, or maybe running into a thicket of thorn bushes. (In other words: you’d never know they were self-inflicted.)

He changed in the shower, not wanting to risk someone seeing him in only a towel, and walked out of the locker room at five. The dinner started at seven, so he better get back to the house.

His brother’s car was the newest Mercedes in a bright white color. Will himself didn’t really care for it, truly; he’d prefer something he’d bought himself, not something that felt like another reason not to let his family down. It wasn’t his, though, it was Michael’s. He must’ve gotten a ride with his friends.

His phone was in the cup holder as he got in (he didn’t question it). He should probably take it into the school with him, not in the car where someone could easily steal it, though he didn’t really use the phone. The only contacts he had was his mother, his father, Michael - his younger brother - alongside Victoria - his older sister. Kayla was too young to have a phone, only maybe eight. She would be spending the dinner with their grandparents.

This home was located on a large hill not far from suburbia. Most students lived in a small community ways down, with the exception of maybe fifty people. His home was something he didn’t consider large, but most of Michael’s friends thought differently. It was maybe three stories, with large windows and a large door in the front. Will pulled into the side yard and parked, opening the door to their house with a lack of finesse, only slightly hoping that maybe his family had left without him to he could crawl into bed.

“Will!” his father called from across the house, getting Will to make an almost silent sigh. “Come upstairs! Your mother picked out an  _ amazing  _ tuxedo,”

Will made his way up two flights of stairs, turned left, and came into his parent’s bedroom.

His father was a tall man, about as tall as Will, with the same bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Though, where Will was standing up straight on instinct, his father was standing up straight because he wanted too. The major physical appearance they didn’t share was skin tone: Will had medium brown skin with darker spots where his freckles were. Apollo - his father - had pale white skin without a freckle in sight. He got his darker skin from his mother, who had light brown hair and dark blue eyes. Her eyes were calm, and her hair was mostly straight with the exception to strands that curled around her ears. She came out of the bathroom and smiled, beckoning Will to follow her. Will did so.

The tuxedo was sat on the chair in the room. It was a basic black one, like she had just James Bond movie, with an exception for the bow tie, which was replaced with a normal black one. Will walked over, thoughtful, and ran his fingers against the edges.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Will?” His mother asked, coming up behind him and clasping her hands together. Will shrugged. “I guess so, mother,”

His mother - Naomi - frowned, walking over and peering beside her son’s shoulder to look at the outfit. “Do you not like it?” she asked.

It wasn’t that Will didn’t like the suit - it was the fact that it looked just like all the other ones he had. Apollo bought a new one every time something happened in which he had to be formal, may it be a dinner or a dance or a meeting. Will didn’t understand why you just buy one or two, and why he needed twenty.

“No, mom,” he said, turning around and giving him a smile. Naomi gave him one back, though it looked just as fake as his own. “I love it,”

(That word - love - had lost its meaning over the years. His sister and brother used it so often it felt just like that - a word. But, in all the stories Will’s read, he felt like it should mean more than that. Love was a word, just like burger or wrapper. He wanted it to be something big, something he only used for special occasions, though it wasn’t. It was a word. That was all it would ever be.)

Naomi looked like she wanted to say something but stopped, instead giving him another smile. She left Will to get dressed, disappearing once more into the bedroom.

Will dressed in silence, not allowing himself to dwell too long on his stomach or his legs, and walked out of the bathroom with a tie in hand.

“Mom?” he called out before entering, slowly pushing open the door. Naomi sighed upon seeing Will, giving him another smile. Will wasn’t sure if that was real or not, though he liked to think it was. “Can you help me tie this?” He asked, holding out the black piece of fabric. His mom nodded, spitting out a  _ Sure, honey,  _ before taking it from him and tying it around his neck.

(He felt like it was suffocating him.)

“Are you going with us?” Will inquired, looking down at his mom. Naomi scoffed, shaking her head helplessly.

“Are you joking? I wouldn’t understand what the heck was going on,” she brushed off imaginary dust from his shoulders, stepping back in front of Apollo. Apollo wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m useless when it comes to business.”

Will nodded solemnly, starting for the door. His mother’s voice stopped him before exiting, though.

“Will, honey, are you alright?”

This was a question Will got more often than not. He was never sure how to answer it, though. He was fine compared to some people, yes, so he shouldn’t complain. So he  _ won’t  _ complain.

“I’m fine,” he said, closing the door behind him.

* * *

 

The dinner party was, against Will’s prior thoughts, held at someone’s house.

He thought it would be at a fancy restaurant like the previous two had. Instead, he was pushed into a home with expansive floors, much bigger than Will’s home, filled with other business men in suits just as expensive as Will’s. Michael was beside him though quickly gone, already hitting it off with other businessmen alongside Apollo. Victoria was gone, probably off to find the drinks, which she could actually do since she was twenty-two, and left Will to mingle by himself.

He ended up sitting towards the outskirts of the home, on a leather couch and watching a small whirlpool form at the center of his glass of water. He felt someone settle beside him on the couch and looked over, finding a short, petite girl beside him.

She had skin about the tone of Will’s, with curly brown hair that seemed to erupt from her head. She had amber eyes that glowed gold like, well, gold. She was wearing a blue skin-tight dress with a circular neckline, showing of a bit off her shoulders. She was wearing high heels and Will silently wondered how the hell she could do it. He swears he recognizes her from somewhere, though he isn’t sure where.

“Why are you sitting all alone back here, handsome?” She asked, stirring a straw around her can of soda. Will shrugged, leaning back on the couch and taking a drink of his water.

“Why not go socialize?” She asked again. “I mean, I’m sure any girl here would be lining up to meet you,”

Will winced. He wasn’t sure why the idea didn’t sit well with him. “I highly doubt that’s true,” he muttered, getting the girl to look over at him instead of out over the crowd.

“William Solace, right?” she said. She held out her hand. “Hazel Levesque. This dinner was my dad’s plan,”

Will took her hand, smiling back at her hesitantly. “Was it mandatory that the kids come as well, or…”

Hazel laughed. It was bit scratchy, and her laugh didn’t seem fake. “I’m not sure. I live here, so I don’t really have a say in the matter.”

Will sighed again, making an  _ Ah,  _ noise, like this was news to him, and sitting up straight again.

“So, why aren’t you socializing?” Hazel asked again.

Will shrugged. “I’m not a very social person,”

“I find that very hard to believe,” Hazel said again, “Mr. Try-Hard,” Will raised a brow at her. “Are you kidding? Jason was talking about you earlier today, how you work so hard during practice? So much so that he’s a bit worried, too,”

That’s where Will recognized her from. She was part of Jason’s group. She was someone’s brother, who’s he wasn’t sure, and she was Piper’s best friend. He thinks that maybe they’re a group of three - Piper, Hazel, and another kid named Leo - and she’s dating someone else on the team. Frank Zhang, maybe?

“I highly doubt that,” Will said again, a bit of humor in his tone, though the topic hit a bit too close to home. “He shouldn’t be worried. I’m fine.”

Hazel raised a brow at him. “He also told us of how you say that a lot. ‘I’m fine’, I mean,”

Will looked downward, trying to ignore the rush of heat traveling up his face. Hazel seemed puzzled like she wasn’t sure what to do with him, before standing up. Will watched her do so. She held out a hand towards him, motioning for him to take it.

“Come on,” she said. “I’ve got a place we can go.”

Will hesitated before letting her pull him up. She didn’t let go, though, instead pulling him through the crowd of people. Will caught his brother’s eye, who saw they were holding hands and shot Will a thumbs up. Will looked ahead once more, trying to ignore the stares people gave them as they passed by.

Hazel pulled Will out the back door and a ways towards the forest. After a minute or so she slipped off her shoes, holding them in her left hand while continuing to guide him through the forest. After a few minutes of being lead blindly the wood opened into an area without any trees beside two or three in the center.

It was a large tree house. There was a ladder that Hazel pulled him to, piling up after him.

The place had one main room that you came into, with one about a foot above the floor. There were two stairs leading to it. Will waited for Hazel to come up and when she did she smiled at him. She stood at maybe five-three without the heels on.

“This is our personal man cave,” she said, spreading her hands out as to gesture to the treehouse. She said  _ our  _ so Will assumed that she shared this with her brother. The room they entered into had a ceiling, though the room beside them did not. Hazel made way into the second room and Will followed.

It turned out that there was a part of the room - maybe one fourth of it - that had a roof. All that was under there, though, were two chairs and a mini fridge. How that had power Will wasn’t sure.

Hazel threw her shoes over to the edge of the room, almost having them fall clean off since there were no walls. She kneeled, opened the fridge, and pulled out a soda, leaving it open. Will took that as an invitation to take what he wanted, so he grabbed a Sprite can since he dropped his other cup on the way here. He sat beside Hazel on the chair.

“This place is somewhere to go when you’re done with the bullshit that is people,” Hazel said, tilting her cup to have Will clink them together. Will obliged. Hazel took a sip,  _ “Ah,”  _ before reaching into her bra and taking out a phone. “We don’t have wifi, so you’ll have to use data,” she said.

“Oh shit,” she muttered, hitting a few buttons on the phone. Will was tempted to peer but didn’t, instead taking to tapping out a rhythm on the side of his can. It took a minute before Hazel put her phone away.

“I hope you don’t mind my brother joining us,” she said. Will just shrugged. Hazel sighed. “Boy, you need to learn to use your words.”

Will didn’t respond.

He took a minute before deciding to speak again: “You wouldn’t happen to have books up here, would you?”

Hazel gave him a sideways look. “I’m liking you more and more as we talk, Will,”

She got up, having Will follow her, and walked over to the first room. Will watched as she gestured to a large bookshelf the took up most of the far wall. “Welcome to the Land of Levesque,” she said, grabbing a book herself before stepping back. “Take what you like. Just don’t ruin the pages,”

Will sat down on the floor in front of the bookcase, hands in his lap, and began scanning the spines. He saw some books he’d already read, like the first Harry Potter and The Iliad, plus a few new ones like You Know Me Well and After the Red Rain. He settled on one that he’d already read, The Song of Achilles, and took note of how battered it looked.

“That book’s  _ so  _ sad,” Hazel said, sighing and putting a hand to her chest. “Made me cry,”

“I know, right?” Will responded, running his thumb through the pages. “I was depressed for a week after reading it.”

Hazel smiled, though Will couldn’t really see it, and turned back around to sit down again. Will decided to simply turn around and press his back to the wall beside the case, flip open the first page, and start again. After a few paragraphs, he changed directions, instead making to read the last chapter over.

He didn’t notice someone had come up again until someone called his name.

Will looked up, noticing Hazel standing beside a taller boy, with a lanky figure and a black leather jacket, pulled over a band shirt - Ramones - with ripped jeans and Doc Martins.

It was the boy Will had stared at earlier that day.

His face went red slightly from the memory. He instead turned to Hazel, who was looking at him like he just popped a second head. He tried to look nonchalant and failed. “Yeah?” He asked.

“I’ve been calling your name for five minutes,” Hazel said, looking a bit confused. “Did you not hear me?” Will shook his head.

Hazel bit her bottom lip and looked towards the boy, who was studying Will with large, dark brown eyes. “Will,” she said, gesturing to the boy beside her. “This is Nico. Nico, this is Will,”

(He still had that beanie that covered his hair, probably making it look better than it actually was.)

Will smiled, offering a wave. Nico looked at him like he was crazy before offering a wave back.

The siblings followed into the second room, and Will could vaguely hear them talking. Will thought about the boy - Nico - for a moment, and how the two looked nothing alike. Before long, though, he turned his attention back to the book, hugging his knees to his chest and holding the book on top. The pages felt fragile beneath his fingertips in a way that his back at home didn’t, so he tried to be extra careful while turning them.

He finished the chapter - the story, a few minutes later and shut the book, placing it back on the shelf. He looked for a pattern: alphabetical order, color of the cover, anything, though didn’t find it. The books seemed to be placed at random, and Will wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He wanted to rip them all off the shelf and sort them but didn’t, instead placing it where he believed it to previously be. He started to get up but stopped, hearing Nico and Hazel talking in the other room, and instead pulled his phone out of his pocket. He unbuttoned the front of the tuxedo, just now realizing it was digging into his stomach, and took off the tie. His dad could chew him out for it later.

He scrolled through Instagram, looking at the occasional post though letting most fly by unseen. He didn’t really care for social media that much; one of the main reasons he had it was because his friends on the baseball team made him. He put his elbow on a shelf, leaning his head against his open palm and pretending to pay attention to what was happening on the screen. After a while of doing that Hazel came back into the room. She was barely a foot in before Will’s gaze was on her. He gave a silent sigh and pocketed the device, standing up. He ignored the pain in his legs from them being bent so long and pursed his lips, looking at her.

“We’re going for a walk,” Hazel said. Will scrunched his brows, thinking,  _ How could she go on a walk in a skin tight dress?,  _ though didn’t say that. “You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”

Will shook his head. “I don’t want to interrupt anything. I should be getting back, anyway; my dad’s probably looking for me.”

Hazel nodded, and Will watched as Nico appeared from the corner. Will looked away almost immediately after Nico caught his gaze. Will climbed down the ladder, his feet hitting the dirt and instantly starting for the house. He was positive his father wasn’t looking for him. He just didn’t want to interrupt Hazel and Nico’s conversation.

(After the party ends and Will collapses into bed, tired as can be, he pulls his head under the covers and tries to get to sleep as fast as possible.)

(It doesn’t happen for two hours.)


End file.
